If language protest is a ‘disease’, most States suffer from it, says Raj Thackeray targeting Bhagwat

Raj Thackeray criticizes Mohan Bhagwat's views on language protests, asserting regional pride should not lead to conflict.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Monday (February 9, 2026) said that if RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is of the opinion that protesting for one's language is a "disease", then a majority of the States in the country suffer from it.

In a post on X, Mr. Thackeray also claimed that those who attended Mr. Bhagwat's programme in Mumbai on February 7-8 to mark the RSS centenary did not come out of love for him but due to the fear of Narendra Modi's government.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, dismissed the remarks, saying people attend Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) programmes voluntarily and with discipline.

On the issue of Marathi language and identity, the ruling BJP said Marathi is a matter of pride, but stressed that a language should remain a medium of communication rather than conflict.

Mr. Thackeray noted that the regional sentiment in the southern states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka is fervent. There is a similar sentiment in Punjab, West Bengal and even in Gujarat.

When hordes of people from four-five states in the country go to different states, act arrogantly there, reject the local culture, insult the local language, create their own vote banks, it leads to resentment among locals, leading to outbursts, he noted.